For better or for worse
by raven8448
Summary: After the death of Xavier Mystique grieves over the loss of her husband... by joining with his killer? Join Mystique and Cyclops for an adventure of blood, sweat and tears. Plot created with: AjTheGeekMandel
1. Chapter 1

Each step crunched the rubble scattered upon the concrete ground. The building was barely lit. Only the burst of light through the entrance gave it an interior appearance. As he stepped forward the patch of light lowered down the back of his beige trench coat as the shadows descended down on him. In moments he was in darkness. Only barely visible to the human eye. His ruby shades made the dastardly building appear even darker than usual and for this he damned his abilities.

The building was an abandoned warehouse that use to hold shipments until they were ready to be shipped. Back in the day this place use to be the 'it' place to work. It put meat on the table and the family clothed. Now all it held was dust for the rest of the world didn't want it.

Sources told Scott this is where he'd find her though none of them could tell him why. This place wasn't exactly of Mystique's taste. She was of fine taste despite growing up in the worst of the world. She had grown rather fond of the finer things in life after taking everything that she didn't deserve, why go astray? Perhaps it was to escape. Perhaps it was to hide.

As Scott furthered inside the building he stopped in a stance. There he squinted through the red tint of his shades. There were beams perfect for her body to hide behind and doors set afar for her to escape into. Behind him in the patch of light stretched a slender shadow of grey. It hinted it to be a woman through the curves of the shape, though still could be otherwise.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" Scott had beamed across the vast area the warehouse covered. A few seagulls flew away in fright from his course voice. Scott wasn't the type of man to swear. He was a good man who always went by his morals, but in the past few months he had been… different.  
>All was hell back at the mansion. No one trusted him anymore. He had to walk through the halls with his head hanging down in shame. Anything to avoid the daggers shooting from everyone's glance. No one was on his side. No one saw him as the leader he once was, despite his pleas…<p>

"Well, well, well… The lion has learnt to roar"

Scott flung around behind him. His trench coat flipping around to follow his movements. The beat of his heart spiked up at the sight of the blue demoness. His hand raised to his glasses from force of habit but simply retired to his side when remembering his motives. 'You are friend not foe, Scotty. Friend not foe,' he simply thought to himself.

Raven stood at the entrance of the warehouse. Her hands lazily residing by her side as well. She stood with her weight resting on her left leg, her hip slightly more prominent to the eye. With the light gleaming from behind her it made her hard to visualize. This time he thanked his ability for the shades. Through his eyes her hair was a darker shade of red, almost black which would have matched her synthetic leather bra and pants that hugged her slender figure well. Her skin was a tint of red but her eyes. They glowed as much as the light behind her. Raven's figure itself was looking slightly on the thinner side but overall as curvaceous and stoic as usual.

"So it's true… This is where you hide out these days." He called out. His casual conversation surprised her. Normally enemies don't like to dawdle unless something bigger is awaiting them. X-Men. The bastard is setting her up. "Cut the crap, Summers." Her hand reached to the right of her back "I know your team of pathetic X-Men will be here soon. I-…" A deep chuckle escaped him which only worsened her fear.

"Relax. We're alone. I'm just here to talk."

"Then what was the whole hand to the glasses routine you pulled when you saw me?"

"Force of habit, my apologies. Mystique, the X-Men and I are… on a break for now. But at this moment I am in need of your skills." The glasses only dehumanized him and the stubble beard made the serious look actually believable.

By now a dagger-like shape became prominent by the waist band of her leather pants. Her hand still rested, tensely, by it in case. Her motives were clear. Scott Summers has to die. His words sounded broken. As if he was serious but really didn't want to be. This is obviously something against his moral compass – actually highly dangerous – but she'll play along. The dagger shape sunk back and her skin was smooth once more.

"For what?"

Sirens interrupted their conversations. The sound wave of numerous engines forced Raven to turn, face towards the door and walk backwards into the darkness with Scott. Her first thought. 'He's set me up!' But when she looked at him he seemed just as shocked as her on the inside. In moments several police cars almost barricaded the entrance of the warehouse. They all stepped out. Pigs. Each one of them was in a blue uniform. One in particular wore badges over his chest and a luscious wrangled beard that looked of an old fisherman's beard. His voice was as gruff as his face predicted when he shouted "FREEZE!" All guns were aimed at them. Their position practically given away by the red dots pressed against their most fatal parts of their bodies. "We've been looking for you for a long time, Mystique" the same pig gave a low chuckle. "But we have you now…."

This was either it or the beginning.

A small smirk revealing her pearling white teeth spread across Raven's face. She turned to her new partner in crime and stepped towards him a little. "I SAID FREEZE YOU BITCH!" Raven whispered to Scott. "… they're always so cranky when they're hungry…" She looked back to the pigs and raised her arms in the air to show no weapon. "… If you've really strayed from the X-Men. Then it's time to show me what you've got…." In once swift motion she stepped behind Scott, placing her hands on his shoulder blades. 'Hm... He's much more muscular than I realized', she thought.

This was his time to shine and he was under pressure. Raven's hide and seek move made him the ultimate target. He knew what he had to do. He took a stance and lifted his ruby shades to enable an optic blast to burst across practically obliterating the pigs and their cars. He lowered his glasses over his eyes. Surprisingly he caught himself smirking. It felt good to release all that energy. It even felt good to hurt those sons of bitches.

"I'm glad you're taking this seriously" A sly face appeared over his shoulder as she stepped out from behind him and inspected the damage. Several police cars were in flames and nobody seemed to be moving. She turned back towards him. "I believe you wanted to talk business…" In a rather spontaneous movement Scott grabbed Raven and turned them both around. His body was towering over her. Without much of a thought an explosion echoed through the room. Her ears rung dangerously. A large cry of pain from Scott was almost completely muffled out of audibility.

His body went limp on top of her and she was forced to hold him up. In her book he was asking too much. First for help and now a hug. Without much of a thought she let him drop to the group where she noticed the large pieces of shrapnel dug deep into his back and blood beginning to pool around him.


	2. Chapter 2

The little red line traced out his heartbeat in the form of triangles. Accompanying it a small beep that becomes repetitive over time. Poor doctors whom have to listen to it day in and day out. Though that was their decision. Raven's eyes followed the cord all the way to the peg on his wedding finger. If anything this was her moment. He was weak, in fact he was out cold. His torso was bandaged up and covered by a paper dress whilst tubs were blowing faint, tickling air through his nostrils – and dripped fluid into the veins in his hand. He looked a wreck while her blood boiled with anger. Raven stood to her feet. Her hand reaching for the same dagger that was residing under her skin. Oh how her abilities were useful.

Eyebrows creased momentarily. He was awake, aware. Raven resumed her position on the chair in the corner.

"'Bout time."

That drew in his attention. Scott looked over at the voice in the corner. Again his eyebrows creased this time in confusion. He looked around the small blank room. The room itself was bleak. Dull in colour. An off-white on the walls and roof, a pale green vinyl for the floor. Everything else was white or silver. Anything of colour was the diagrams that were plastered to the walls by the door and of course Raven herself.

"How'd I get here?" he questioned. His voice was weak and slightly slurred. The morphine was taking effect. He lifted his head from the pillow, took one short look at his wrangled body before collapsing his head back on his pillow.

"I brought you here. The debris that was shot into your back was too deep for me to simply stitch you back together. You needed urgent help." It made her sick to her stomach to know that she did such a nice thing for Summers', but she was a woman of morals believe it or not. He saved her, she saved him.

"Are you hungry? Your meal is getting cold," she nodded towards the overbed table. On top was a beige tray with a plate, covered, a glass of apple juice sitting in the corner, small salad and two empty pudding cups curtesy of Raven herself. "They say its fettuccine marinara, I say it looks like the contents of my stomach. So I'd start with the salad."

Abruptly the door opens. In the doorway is a young doctor with a head of black hair extending down as a luscious beard, in a doctor's coat with a stethoscope dangling around his neck. With a clipboard in hand he walks in, shutting the door behind him. Raven's elbow rests upon the arm of the chair, in her hand however a black handgun was swaying gently between her fingers. Her eyes were trained on the doctor. His eyes were trained on her. Almost could you see him take a deep gulp before cautiously taking his eyes off of Raven and onto Scott. He tried to offer him a warm reassuring smile, but to no avail. Fear was shaking out of him. Even his chest raised and lowered more rapidly than before. Maybe he was the one who needed the pegged finger.

"Hello, Scott…" he spoke a little shakily. His facial expression revealed how much he was kicking himself for letting this get to him. He cleared his throat and continued. "…. I'm Doctor Reed," his voice was much better this time. "Now the glass that penetrated your body did cause some injury, not just to your muscle but to your kidney. Luckily, the glass didn't actually stab directly into your kidney it merely grazed it. However we do want to observe your kidney over the next few weeks. You also obtain a light grazing on your forehead which will only take utmost a week to heal. Now if you don't mind I'd like to check your vision."

Dr. Reed pulled out a small torch from his coat pocket and approached Scott. He leaned in and flashed the light into his eye and observed. "Follow the light." He ordered before moving the torch left, right, up and down to ensure movement. Scott obliged, managing to move in all directions. "Good news, your eyesight is fine." Dr Reed briefly looked over at Raven whom by now was holding the gun properly, with the barrel facing him directly. Quickly he walked out the door leaving them both in peace.

"A few weeks? I don't have that kind of time. The mission has to be done in a few days or we're fucked!"

Raven stood and walked over to his side. She towered over him for once. Again another opportunity arrived. She stared at him blankly for a moment as she envisioned herself carrying out his murder. However patience is a virtue. She picked up the glass of Apple juice and pressed a button a remote. The top half of the mattress started to fold up but stopped at a 45 degree angle. Raven perched herself on his bed.

"What exactly is the mission?"

He looked at her and took a deep breathe. "There is a facility on the outskirts of New York. In there is hundreds of Sentinels being built. Bigger and better. There is a man by the name of General Atkins. He gives the okay to send the sentinels out. He needs to be eliminated."

"Why not destroy the facility?"

"I considered that, but that could easily give them another reason to get more funding and recreate the sentinels."

"And what about the sentinels? Without his permission they could easily send them out no matter what."

"It's considered a federal crime to do something like that, I'm hoping they're thinking of that."

"The sentinels are built for the mutant epidemic. No matter what there are always people willing to look the other way."

Raven brought the glass to his lips and slowly tipped it in. "I can do the mission myself." She told him.

When she pulled the glass away she could easily read his facial expression. 'oh-hell-no'.

"Absolutely not. There is no way you can be trusted." His tone of voice insinuated a scowl of disgust but his drugged voice made it slur into more of a rant.

"I'm aware. But you're also aware if you don't put faith in me than our race is practically doomed. With all the bullshit from politics, ravenous villains and various other factors, I doubt you want to watch us burn from your window." As her voice trailed off she looked over at the window before returning to Scott. "You'll be here, as my field handler. We'll keep in contact through an earpiece. First thing tomorrow."

She stood and walked around the overbed table before pushing it over his legs. "Eat." That was the last thing she said before walking out.


End file.
